HSU declares it's ready to rejoin union fold

The scandal-plagued Health Services Union says it is now ready to be accepted back into the union movement.

The HSU East Branch was suspended from Unions New South Wales in April last year.

At the time Michael Williamson had already been stood aside as HSU secretary while barrister Ian Temby QC investigated management of the union.

But it was only when Mr Williamson agreed to stand down as vice-president of Unions NSW that the HSU was suspended.

Mr Williamson now faces criminal charges.

Elected positions in the HSU were declared vacant last year and the organisation was put into administration. That was followed by court ordered elections for new officials.

New HSU secretary Gerard Hayes says Unions NSW is pleased with the progress that has been made.

"We would wait for their overall approval but, all going well, we will be seeking to have the suspension lifted in the relatively near future," Mr Hayes said.

"This union is reporting on a financial capacity above any other union in this country.

"This union has had some problems in the past, but this will be a union of excellence in the future."

Mr Hayes, a former HSU divisional secretary under the former administration, says he is working closely with police at every level while making changes based on what is understood to be a scathing report by Mr Temby.

"Every aspect of the Temby recommendations has been implemented by this union. We now have an independent treasurer independently involved in overseeing these matters and not at an industrial reporting level, but at a corporate reporting level," he said.

"We have been in contact with Union NSW, we have offered them to be able to go through our books, we have offered them any governance issues that they want.

"We would wait for their overall approval but they are very pleased with where the union is and indeed on where the union is going to on a financial footing."

But Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon is not saying how far away the HSU is from reinstatement.

"No, it's going to take a while, but we will work through it and we are already working with them on corporate governance issues," Mr Lennon said.

"Given that there is a new team in place, they they are working very hard on their corporate governance to get to a situation where we are satisfied that they can have the suspension lifted."

Last year's Unions NSW suspension came a week after the Australian Council of Trade Unions also suspended the HSU's membership.

Reinstatement to the national body is not understood to be imminent.

Last month former HSU national secretary and federal Labor MP Craig Thomson was also charged by police with more than 100 fraud-related charges.

After his arrest Mr Thomson said he would "vigorously defend" himself against the charges.

The HSU faces another fight on Monday in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, when it opposes the registration of a new union that wants to represent paramedics in the state's Ambulance Service who are currently covered by the HSU.